"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere."--Carl Sagan

Yesterday I looked back at the beginning of my art career when I put dots on my paintings. I have not done this consistently for several years now, but the photo below is of a fairly recent piece on which I did put the one inch magazine dots. I did this because my husband requested it. He is a big fan of Earl Campbell and also likes the effect of the dots. From a distance, say of across a room, the painting has an almost photo realism effect.

But up close the dots add texture and interest and surprises. For example, if you look closely at the very center of the painting, you will find the smiling face of the subject. There is also a portrait of Vincent VanGogh, a yellow rose, and some dynamite.

I like paintings that appeal from a distance but also draw the viewer in for a closer look. I also like work that contains a certain level of tension and complexity. I think that is why I started pixelating images in a variety of ways. I admit it--it is satisfying to be able to manipulate both the image and the viewer!

For example, I recently created this pixelated image of VanGogh. It contains just enough information for the viewer to be able to decipher the image up close. But when viewed from afar, here from across the street from the gallery, the face is more readily discernible. (You may be able to see this better by clicking on the photo.)

I have learned many lessons by experimenting with pixels. Sometimes it is necessary to "mix colors" instead of using a color directly. By this I mean for example, it can be more interesting to make brown by placing a green square next to a red one. Of course, this is not a new concept. It is in fact the basis for impressionism.

John Singer Sargent said, "Impressionism was the name given to a certain form of observation when Monet, not content with using his eyes to see what things were or what they looked like as everybody had done before him, turned his attention to noting what took place on his own retina (as an oculist would test his own vision)."

It is precisely this type of experimentation that makes art a pleasing pursuit for me. One such experiment resulted from becoming bored with cutting and pasting squares. And I decided it would be easier to mix colors if I put a small dot inside a slightly larger square. In order to do this, I used a 1/2" x 1/2" square of wood to paint the image, and a pencil eraser to put the dot in each square. Note how this allows me to somewhat soften the lines by blending one color into another. (Click on the paintings for a closer view.)

In the first painting, on the left above, I meticulously placed a dot in every square. In the second one, the colors were stark and did not need to be broken up and blended as much. I also discovered that depending on the type of acrylic paint I used, I could vary the amount of texture as I "stamped" the squares and circles. I also incorporated small square photos in some of these pixel pieces as seen below in "Izzy," a very large painting of a ver small dog. The background is made up of photos of the owner's children.

I did this on a larger scale with "Golden Girl," increasing the size of the squares from 1/2" to 1 inch, then I painted a 1/2" square inside each, then a pencil eraser dot, making three levels total, as seen in the detail shot below.

Sometimes pencil size dots are enough and this leads to pure pointillism as seen below in "Red Amanda."

I have also used a variety of mixed media to pixelate images. "Love Letters"(shown below in progress) is made of cancelled stamps from the 1940s.

Then I discovered FIMO! This is a polymer cane meant to be sliced super thin and used as decals in manicures. They create lots of visual interest because they each contain a design that is revealed by slicing the cane. Note that the image below is much larger than actual size. Most measure between 1/8" and 1/4"!!!

As you can imagine, slicing and fitting these thousands of bits together to form an image is very time consuming. I have only made a couple of these "paintings."

My most recent pixelations have been created by layering 1" plastic squares, 1 cm. plastic cubes, and 1/2" BINGO dots to form my bits and pieces.

I have only made a couple of these pieces, which I have dubbed "Plastic Artifacts," because there are some problems with this process: 1) The expense of the supplies, including super glue; 2) The weight of the final piece; 3) The colors are very limited; and 4) They are fairly fragile and the dots tend to get caught on things.

I did attempt to use up a few left over squares by making this small, 12" x 12" piece. Because I didn't have a wide variety of colors, I was forced to substitute and was surprised to learn that the random colors still allowed me to create a recognizable image. (You may have to run across the room to see this one well.)

Well, quite a long post today! Before signing off, I admit I have become again obsessed with something--something I came across while I was looking for images of the plastic squares on Amazon... smaller, clear plastic squares!!!!!!! Oh my.